David Beckham may be on his way out, but MLS commissioner Don Garber was clear during Monday’s “state of the league” conference call that the league now is in a far different place than it was back when the English icon signed nearly six years ago.

In that vein, the commissioner trumpeted the record average attendance and number of sellouts MLS enjoyed this year, its new television partnership with NBC, the addition of a 19th club in Montreal and more milestones that highlighted “clearly the most successful season in our league.”

That season, MLS’s 17th, will conclude Saturday with the MLS Cup final pitting the host LA Galaxy against the Houston Dynamo (4:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).

With stability ensured, Garber spent some 90 minutes addressing issues of growth: expansion, youth development, new stadiums and new investment. It all started, of course, with a look at Beckham’s much-discussed option to become an MLS owner. The highlights of Garber’s address:

Beckham’s buy-in

When he inked his historic five-year deal with the Galaxy in early 2007, Beckham and MLS struck a unique arrangement: When he was through playing, he would have the right to exercise an option to become an owner.

Since reported to be around $25 million, that buy-in would be considerably less than the market rate. The Montreal Impact paid $40 million in the spring of 2010 and the price certainly isn’t dropping.

“At that time, remember where Major League soccer was,” Garber said Monday. “I believe we had 12 teams in the league. We had not yet had the television relationships that we have today. We had probably half the number of soccer(-specific) stadiums and the league was just more immature. What we were looking for was a long-term partner in building this league, someone who was committed to working with us in creating more value for everyone. That’s the role that David played.”

Garber said there was “still a lot of work to do to figure out how this option gets exercised,” but Beckham’s apparent interest in finishing his playing career overseas won’t force an urgent agreement.

The commissioner confirmed that Beckham will not be able to purchase an interest in the expansion club planned for New York City. But the Galaxy, part of the up-for-sale AEG sports empire, are an intriguing possibility.

“There is a possibility for him to work with the league office to find ways to transfer that option into an opportunity in LA,” Garber said. “It’s way too premature to even talk about that or to even speculate what that would look like, but that opportunity does exist.”

Competition format

“Consistency will be the theme for us in 2013, something we’ve strived to achieve over the last couple of years and have been unable to do so,” Garber said.

With that, he confirmed that the 34-game regular season and playoff format (including an MLS Cup final at the site of the participant with the better record) will remain in place next year. The one change will be an earlier start. After kicking off on March 10 this season, MLS will open its 18th season on March 2, its earliest launch ever.

“We’ll do everything possible to not schedule games again during World Cup qualifying dates. We will have a lighter schedule during the (CONCACAF) Gold Cup (in July),” Garber said.

Complaints from clubs about the new playoff format, which added a second game to the conference finals and retained the preliminary-round matches introduced last year, focused on the compressed schedule. For example, LA played its first four postseason games in only 11 days.

“We are working on finding days for more rest days,” Garber said. “Something I believe our coaches and players will find welcome.”

Expansion

Garber said that MLS and the city of New York are “at the finish line” of their pursuit of an agreement to transfer 10 acres of land in Queens’ Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to the league for the construction of a privately financed stadium.

A New York City team could take the field as early as 2016, he said.

There’s a lot more work to be done once the land is secured, from a formal building approval process to parkland replacement and more, but Garber said he was optimistic that MLS was on the right track. A second New York-area team has been on the league’s wish list since it kicked off in 1996.

“We believe that a second team in New York will help create an opportunity to break through the clutter in this market,” Garber said. “There are 13 million people in this city. … We need to give them all an opportunity to stop for a moment and pay attention to Major League Soccer.”

Garber said there were “many” potential ownership groups interested in the opportunity and he dismissed recent comments from New York Red Bulls GM Jérôme de Bontin, who expressed concern about the viability of two clubs in the same market.

“I know (Red Bull director of global soccer Gérard Houllier) very much believes that rivalries are a real driver of fan passion and marketing success,” Garber said. “So I’m not at all concerned with Jérôme’s point of view. I think it’s just part of being new (to MLS). We have the full support of Red Bull ownership and we’ve had it for many years.”

New York continues to be the league’s primary expansion target, although Garber reiterated that “we need to be south of Washington D.C.” and that “it isn’t a matter of if, it’s a matter of when.” Orlando City, currently playing in the third-tier USL Pro, is angling for a stadium and a spot in MLS and Garber said Monday that “at some point, it would make sense for a team in Miami. I don’t know when that is.”

Youth Development

Garber promised that MLS “will continue to invest massive amounts of money” in player development and acknowledged Monday that the league’s investment to this point, which has reached $20 million per year, “has not yet paid off.”

The academy system still is relatively new and many of the “home-grown” players those academy teams (ranging from Under-15 through Under-18) are designed to produce have struggled to earn minutes with the first-team. The reserve league still plays only 10 games a season and there is no formal relationship with the minor leagues that might enhance playing opportunities.

Garber said Monday that initiatives on all fronts are under discussion and that several weeks ago the league even discussed a rule similar to the one in Mexico that mandates a minimum amount of playing time for players under a specified age.

“We’re working on ways to have a more comprehensive reserve league. Part of it could be a closer relationship with the second division (NASL) and giving those players opportunities to get minutes,” Garber said. “Part of it could be incentivizing our teams to provide playing opportunities for those players on their first team.”

The Strugglers

The fact that “there’s arguably not a soccer fan on this planet who doesn’t know the LA Galaxy,” according to Garber, highlights Chivas USA’s ineptitude. The Galaxy’s tenant at The Home Depot Center loses on the field and is irrelevant off it (ranking dead last in average attendance) and continues to be MLS’s weakest link.

With Chivas de Guadalajara owner Jorge Vergara now in full control, the prospect of rebranding with a name and logo that might appeal to Southern Californians who don’t support the famous Mexican club appears to be lost.

Nevertheless, Garber said he was confident Vergara could turn it all around.

“I continue to believe that we have the opportunity to tap into that enormous Hispanic population in LA,” the commissioner said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to relaunch that club. But I do believe we will be able to achieve the success that’s been eluding us in the past.”

Vergara has said that finding a new home for Chivas USA is a top priority.

Up in Toronto, a club that enjoyed support the likes of which Chivas USA could only dream has hit hard times. Toronto FC has missed the playoffs in every one of its six seasons and fired its sixth head coach, Aron Winter, in June. Average attendance dropped below 20,000 per game (down to 18,681) for the first time.

Garber said Monday that he retains his confidence in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment president Tom Anselmi and that “I have been a party to some of the changes they are about to make and I hope it will get them back on track. … I believe they will be looking to make some bold moves."

The commissioner expressed optimism that D.C. United’s seemingly endless pursuit of a new stadium finally has moved in a positive direction. He said league officials have been speaking with developers who have access to the Buzzard Point land on which the club wants to build and that United’s new majority owners, Erick Thohir and Jason Levien, “have the capacity to put more private equity into a deal that makes the opportunity far more viable.”

Robert and Jonathan Kraft, who own the New England Revolution, also are looking into building an urban stadium that will require public money. The club attracted only 14,001 fans per game to Gillette Stadium this season.

“As a leader in pro sports in this country, (the Krafts) want to be part of being a leader in Major League Soccer and having a soccer-specific stadium will help them achieve that,” Garber said. “They were here in the (MLS) office two weeks ago giving us an update. There’s nothing new to report but the family is still very focused on it.”